Police respond to active shooter in Pittsburgh

An active shooter fired “hundreds of rounds” near a Pittsburgh children’s hospital Wednesday morning, as authorities urged residents to stay away from the scene.

Police have closed down the 4800 block of Broad Street and North Mathilda Street in the Garfield neighborhood after a gunfight broke out when police were serving an eviction notice in the area, WPXI 11 reports.

The suspect is believed to be barricaded in the block and has shot down two drones sent out by law enforcement.

No officers have been reported injured as of yet.

Pittsburgh police SWAT has taken over the scene, with officials describing it as an “extremely active situation with shots continuing to be fired.”

Chris Wilkinson, who witnessed the shooting, said officers had arrived on the block Wednesday morning and were banging on the door where the shooting first rang out.

“They were banging on it telling him they were there,” Wilkinson told CBS News. “And after a couple of minutes of them doing it, they started to kick down the door.

“Then they got a sledgehammer and took down the door, and after that shots started to be fired,” he added.

After the shooting began, multiple rounds were heard reverberating throughout the neighborhood, with neighbors describing the experience as surreal.

“I’ve never heard bullets like this,” one neighbor near the scene told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Something you’d see in a movie.”

UPMC Children’s Hospital said the shooting is taking place about half a mile away, with the gunfire posing “no direct threat to patients, staff or visitors.”

The hospital, however, noted that it will be increasing security around its campus throughout the day.

This is a developing story.